


The Creature From Polus

by Susumu



Category: Among Us (Video Game)
Genre: Blood, Blood and Injury, Blood and Violence, Gen, Medical Examination, Medical Procedures, mention of needles, orange probably swears a lot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:54:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26904706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Susumu/pseuds/Susumu
Summary: When Blue is attacked by an unknown creature on a mission on Polus, she begins to act very strangely upon returning to the ship. Can the others save her, or will they all be doomed to her same fate?
Comments: 6
Kudos: 51





	1. Arrival

A pair of blue suited astronauts, one much taller than the other, stepped into the dropship. The taller astronaut looked around. Strange. There were supposed to be others here, weren't there? Was she really the first one here? Well, it couldn't really be helped. She took a seat at the back and strapped herself in, carefully placing the smaller figure on her lap. Looks like she'd just have to wait until everyone else showed up. She couldn't help but feel a bit nervous. Yeah, she'd been into space several times before... But those missions hadn't exactly all gone smoothly. A lot of her crewmates in the past had died, and she was worried about the smaller one...

"Hey!" A man's voice suddenly broke her out of her thoughts. She looked up to see another astronaut, this one wearing an orange suit, standing at the entrance of the ship. Even through his helmet she could see his blue eyes piercing into her. "Are you part of the expedition team going to Polus?"

Blue blinked. "Um, yes," she answered quickly. "I heard there were going to be more of us going on this trip... Are we the only ones?"

Orange shook his head. "Not even close," he said. "There's going to be 10 of us going to Polus. Looks like we got here early." As he spoke, he strapped himself into a seat near Blue. It was then that he noticed the smaller figure sitting on Blue's lap. "Oh! I, uh, didn't notice you had a little one."

The smaller person sitting with Blue tilted her head. "Oh, her?" Blue asked. "Well, she's... Not really my kid, actually. She's actually a clone of me. She was supposed to be identical, but... I don't know why she turned out smaller than me. She is a lot like a daughter to me, though. I call her Little Blue." Little Blue looked up and smiled at Orange. Okay, that was pretty cute. Orange couldn't help but smile at the girl.

Blue and Orange sat in the ship together for several more minutes, talking about themselves and their past expeditions, when suddenly a green-suited astronaut burst into the ship. "Hey! Am I late?!" he yelled. "This is the ship going to Polus, right?"

The other two were startled by his sudden appearance, but Orange was able to speak up. "Uh, yeah, it is," he responded. "Are you... Part of the expedition team?"

"Ah, great!" Green declared, hopping into a seat and strapping himself in. "Yeah, I'm part of the team. Good to meet ya both! But... Weren't there supposed to be more of us here?"

"I'm sure they're coming," Blue answered. "Actually, I was the first one to get here... And Orange said there were going to be 10 of us? I wonder what the others are like?"

Orange nodded in response. "That's what I was told, anyway," he answered. "Well, three out of ten are here... Let's just wait and see who shows up."

And so the three sat chatting a bit. Over the next few minutes, more astronauts wearing suits of various colors showed up. There was an energetic young guy in a red suit, a rather odd girl in a purple suit, and the kindest girl they'd ever met in a yellow suit. Sure enough, just as orange had said, there were 10 of them in all, and all of the seats had been filled. Once everyone had been strapped in, the door to the ship began to close. Little Blue began clinging to Blue more than before, and Blue patted her on her head. "The ship must be taking off now," she remarked. "Orange, what is this expedition even for?"

Orange turned and raised his hands to get the group's attention. Once everyone was looking at him, he spoke. "Alright, everyone, here's what's going on. We're being sent to the base on Polus to gather data and do some repair work around the base."

Green's excitement faded. "That's it?" he asked, obvious disappointment in his voice. "We're just going to be space repairmen?"

"I'm sure that's not all it is, Green," Yellow replied. "They picked us because we would be the best people for the job."

"Yellow's right!" Red spoke up. "There's no one who could do this job better than us. That's why we all got put on this mission together!"

"I just hope this goes well," Brown said. "I've heard that a lot of bad stuff goes on in this place. People dying, weird aliens popping up around the base..."

"Those are just stories, Brown," Purple assured him. "None of that stuff is real. ...I think."

Orange spoke once more. "Stories or not, we can't get distracted. Let's just get the work done so we can all go home without dying. Okay?"

The group sat and chatted for what felt like hours to Blue. Yeah, she joined in the conversation from time to time, particularly with Brown and Orange, but she felt a bit too... Relaxed at the moment? She wasn't sure how to describe it, but she felt weirdly calm in this group. She just sat back and enjoyed the ride and the view for the most part. Eventually, though, the screen above the door lit up, showing an informational video about the base on Polus. "Ah! I think we're almost here!" Orange remarked.

Sure enough, the ship began to shake violently once more, indicating that the group had arrived at their destination. Once the shaking had stopped, Green was the first to unfasten his seatbelt. The rest of the astronauts quickly followed, with Blue and Brown being the last to come out. Blue had just felt so relaxed on the ship. But now, looking at the cold surface of the planet in front of her... Why was she suddenly hit with this feeling of looming dread?

Brown put his hand on Blue's shoulder. "Hey Blue, what's up?" he asked her. "Suddenly get hit with a feeling of looming dread?"

"Yes, actually," Blue answered. Seeing his smile drop, she could tell that was a joke, but still.

"Oh," Brown replied. "Well, uh... Just don't worry about it, okay? Let's focus on our work and then we can go home." And with that, he stepped out towards the base. He was right, wasn't he? Blue was just worrying too much. Sure she'd had some bad experiences in the past, but they all had, and they all seemed to get along great on the trip here. Maybe things would be fine after all.

"Well... I'd better get to work. Let's go, little one."


	2. The Incident

The group filed into the main office, where a table with ten chairs had been prepared for them. Once the group had sat down, the astronaut in a light blue colored suit spoke up. "So, uh... I thought we had work to do?" he asked. "What are we doing here?"

"We do," Orange began. "But if we all just pile up in the same area we'll never get anything done. We need to decide who's going to do what. I'll handle the electrical work. Green, how good's your eyesight? We need someone to keep an eye out for asteroids."

"Pretty good!" Green answered. He suddenly got excited again. Maybe he'd get to fire the big cannon on the base!

"Great," Orange continued. "White, you head to the Comms room, make sure everything's okay there. Lime, you're on navigation duty. Someone's gotta guide us home. Purple, you go to the Lab and Cyan, you seem like a smart guy. Go check out the Medbay. That reminds me, we'll all need to do medical scans before we leave..."

"What can I do?" Red asked.

"Well, we need someone to refuel the ship," Orange replied. "Yellow, go keep an eye on the security cameras. If the rumors about this place are true, we'll need someone to be on watch. Pink, see if anything needs done in the O2 room."

"That just leaves me and Blue," Brown remarked. "What do you want us to do?"

"Can you two go collect the weather and temperature data from around the base?" Orange asked. "You know, those weather nodes are all over the place. They'll have what you're looking for."

"We can do that!" Blue answered.

"Okay, that's great!" Orange said, turning back to the table. "Let's get to work, everyone!" With that, he got up from his chair, and everyone else followed. Green sat up and dashed off towards the weapons control room. Blue and Brown walked off together, and once everyone was on their way, Orange went off to the electrical room. Yellow made her way to the security room, placing herself in front of the cameras. Maybe she should have grabbed a drink or something. She could be here for a while. Pink went into the O2 room and decided to empty the trash while she was in there.

Red, however, was having a bit of trouble. "Refueling the ship?" he asked himself. "How am I supposed to do that?" He walked over to the storage building. "Maybe there's something in here I can use..." He continued as he began searching.

Green, meanwhile, sat watching the screen in the Weapons room. Gosh, this was boring. Lime, on the other hand, had plotted out a course for home and was ready to take a break- Until she remembered the medical scans. Brown and Blue had split up, though Little Blue had stuck close to Blue. While Blue was collecting data from one of the weather nodes, Little Blue had found a large hole in the ground near the Lab, and she had been staring at it for a while. As she was about to get closer, though, Blue had finished her work.

"Little Blue!" Blue called out. "Stay away from there!" As she pulled Little Blue away from the hole, though, she saw something red gleaming inside...

Orange was halfway across the base at the time, finishing up on repairing the wiring in the electrical room. "Augh. How many different things are they powering here anyway?" Though he had a clear view of what Blue was doing, he only saw it out of the corner of his eye- He saw something jump at her and heard her scream. "Huh?!" He dropped what he was doing and ran over to where she was. "Blue?! Blue?!"

He was concerned enough when Blue didn't respond, but he quickly found out why. Blue was holding onto Little Blue with one arm, and the other held rather close to her body. There was what might have been a bite wound of some sort on the arm she was holding up. Whatever had attacked her must have had some huge teeth- It had torn through her suit and she was bleeding pretty heavily. Little Blue looked to be unharmed, though she was staring in horror at Blue. Blue tried to speak, but she was shaking hard and it was clear that she was just grinding her teeth trying to hold back tears. Orange acted as quickly as he could, taking Little Blue's hand with one arm and propping Blue up with the other. "Blue! Blue, hang on!" He tried speaking to her to see if that would help her any. "We're not far from Medbay... It looks like it hurts a lot, but... Just try to keep calm, okay?" He then proceeded to drag Blue into the building.

The Medbay was pretty quiet at first. Various medical personnel were wandering about doing their daily work, and Cyan was waiting for his turn while Lime recieved her medical scan. That is, until Orange and Blue burst in. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at the two in the doorway. "Please, let me through!" Orange yelled. "We've got an emergency! Blue is... Something attacked her!"

It wasn't long before the medical staff were rushing to help the two. Blue was placed on a bed and wheeled away, while Orange and Little Blue were taken to recieve medical scans of their own, just to make sure they hadn't been injured. While this was going on, Two staff members were attending to Blue's injury. The arm of her suit was pulled off, and the blood was washed away to reveal that Orange had been correct: Something very large had attacked Blue, and whatever it was left a very large set of teeth marks on her arm. She didn't seem to need any stitches, but the wound still needed to be taken care of right away. While one staff member wrote a few things down, the other sprayed some kind of spray on Blue's arm. It stung for a bit, but the arm was quickly bandaged and her suit patched up. The person writing looked at Blue. "Excuse me, miss? Could you please tell me what happened?"

Blue was quiet for a minute. "I... Don't know," she answered. "I was just collecting weather data like I was supposed to, then... I saw a hole near the base. There was something inside it, but I couldn't see what. The next thing I knew, something flew out and attacked me. When Orange came by, it was gone."

The person with the clipboard continued writing. "I see... Thank you, Miss. We'll keep an eye out around the base. If something got inside, we'll be sure to remove it. You're free to stay here for a while if you'd like."

"I-I can't," Blue explained, getting up out of the bed. "I can't let this stop me from finishing my work. And I'm still worried about my-"

"Blue!" As Blue was about to leave, she was suddenly jumped by Lime and Cyan, with Orange and Little Blue right behind. "Are you okay?" Lime asked. "We saw Orange carrying you in... It looked like you were bleeding."

"Hey, careful with her, guys," Orange said. "She just got jumped by something."

"What even happened anyway?" Cyan asked. "You got jumped?"

"Uh... I'll tell you about it later," Blue said. "I really just want to finish my work now."

Once all the work had been done around the base, everyone's medical scans had been submitted and boarding passes were in order, it was time to go back to the ship. As everyone was strapping themselves in, Cyan spoke up again. "Hey, uh, Blue? Is it later yet?"

"Huh?" Blue asked. 

"You know, uh, you said you would explain what happened to you later, and we're heading back to the ship now, so..."

"Oh! Right, right... What happened to me today. ...Is everyone listening?" Sure enough, everyone was staring intently at Blue, waiting for her to explain. "Well, okay..." She then began to explain about what had happened to her on Polus.

"I knew it!" Brown spoke up. "There IS weird stuff on Polus!"

Yellow seemed concerned. "That really happened to you? Are you okay?"

"Uh, yeah," Blue answered. "I'm okay now, I think."

"Even so, you still got attacked today," Orange said. "I think it'll be best if you rest in the Medbay for a few days."

As much as Blue just wanted to go about her day unbothered, she didn't want to argue. Maybe a few days of rest would be what she needed to get back to work. The conversation topic then switched to other things, and the mood settled down. After what felt like forever, the group finally made it back to the ship. Of course, Green was the first one to run out onto the deck. "Ah, finally! I can move again!"

Brown and Blue walked out together. "You see, Blue?" Brown said. "Everything's going to be fine. Now, why don't you go rest? I'll take care of your work for you."

Despite what happened on Polus, Blue still trusted in her new team. They would look out for her after all, wouldn't they? She may as well take their advice and go get some rest. It was like Brown had said, everything was going to be fine.

...Wasn't it?


	3. The Examination

The next day, life aboard the ship seemed to be continuing as normal. The crew was going about their daily tasks, minus Blue, and Little Blue was running down the hall from the Medbay to the Cafeteria. Purple, who was already sitting in the Cafeteria, noticed this and walked up to her. "Hey, hey there, little one," she said. "What's going on?"

Little Blue pointed to the Cafeteria. She had been on her way there to get something to drink for Blue. Purple thought she understood. "Alright, but don't run in the spaceship," she advised the girl. "Come on, I'll walk you up there." Purple took Little Blue by the hand and began walking down the hall. "So you were coming from Medbay, huh? Blue was in there too. Maybe we should bring her something." Little Blue nodded in response. The two made their way to the back of the Cafeteria and picked up a few bottled drinks, including some water for Blue. As they made their way back, however, a rather sleepy looking Blue, now minus all her gear so she could rest more comfortably, stepped out of the Medbay. Purple didn't want to say anything, but she really looked like a mess. Her hair was ruffled and strands were sticking out all over her head. On the plus side, her bandage had been changed a few times since last night.

"Ah... Mornin', Purple," Blue said, her voice sounding rather clear despite her physical state.

"It's 2 PM," Purple responded.

"Wait, what time zone are we in again?" Blue asked.

Purple's smile dropped. Blue was probably just speaking through the filter of being half asleep, but she was right either way. Time didn't exactly exist in space, did it? "...Uh, right. Little Blue wanted to bring you some water, so I was going with her." Purple held up the water bottle. "Uh, I'll open it for you. Your arm's still healing, you know. You could still pull that wound open doing this." She twisted the top off the bottle before handing it to Blue.

"Thanks," Blue said, before taking a drink from the bottle. "My throat feels so dry."

This statement seemed to concern Purple. "It looks like you need more rest," she remarked. "Go lay back down, okay?"

Blue didn't like hearing this. "But... What about my work?" she asked. "I can't get anything done if I'm sleeping all day, and Little Blue..."

"Don't worry about all that, okay?" Purple assured her. "I'll take care of your work today, and keep an eye on the kid for you." She patted Little Blue on her head.

"...Thank you, Purple," Blue answered. She still wasn't happy about this, but as long as Little Blue was taken care of she would be okay. "Try to keep her out of trouble, okay?"

Purple shook her head. "Don't you worry, Blue. I won't let her get hurt, I promise." Blue gave the two a smile and turned to go back to the Medbay. Before she did, though, Purple called out to her one last time. "Hey, by the way... I never noticed this before, but... Your teeth are really pointy."

Blue seemed confused by this statement. "My teeth aren't pointy," she responded, before going back to her bed. Wait, what?

The next day progressed as usual, except with one thing. Blue never stepped out of the Medbay once. Cyan had been monitoring her condition for the past few days, and only now did he step out of the Medbay himself. Now, he found himself making his way to the front of the ship, where Orange was checking the course he had plotted. It wouldn't be long before the ship reached their next destination: MIRA HQ. "Uh... Orange?" he said softly, hoping it would get his attention. 

"Cyan?" Orange looked up at the blue-suited astronaut. "I'm kind of busy right now. Can this wait?"

"It's about Blue. You seemed pretty close with her, so... I thought you might want to know how she's doing."

"She's recovering well, isn't she? I saw her yesterday and she was doing fine."

"Uh, yeah... About that... Well, she's not doing so well today. Actually, she's gotten a lot worse."

Orange looked up from the navigation panel. "What do you mean worse?"

Cyan motioned for Orange to follow him, and Orange quickly dashed out of the room to the Medbay. He got there before Cyan did, but quickly saw what he was talking about. Blue looked like she could barely stay awake, and she seemed much paler than orange remembered. And... Had her hair gotten longer since yesterday? And darker? Once Cyan was in the room, Orange turned to him and spoke. "How did this even happen?"

"I don't know," Cyan answered. "She was fine yesterday, and now she's sick. She's been having coughing fits too... But all the scans I've run say she's perfectly healthy? Actually, something weird is showing up on the scans... But I can't read any of this data. It just looks like garbled signals to me. Aside from that, though, everything is stable. Her temperature and heart rate are normal, there's no signs of internal injury or anything... I don't understand what's happening."

Orange looked over at Blue when he heard her cough harshly. She put her hand up to her mouth. Was she bleeding? Orange then turned back to Cyan. "Alright, we'll be reaching MIRA HQ in about 20 minutes," he said. "I think it would be worthwile to get her treated there. Do you think she'll be okay for that long?"

Cyan shrugged. "Well, she's not dying from the looks of things," he answered. "Maybe they can find out what's wrong better than we can."

Cyan and Orange kept watch over Blue until the ship began to shake. "It looks like we're landing now," Orange noted. "Can you get Blue treated while the rest of us go report our findings?"

Cyan nodded, and followed Orange toward the doors of the ship. While the rest of the crew went down the hall to report the data they had collected, Cyan stopped off at the building's Medical Center. He was approached by one of the staff, and spoke to them. "We've, uh, got a bit of an emergency here. One of our crew members seems to have gotten... Sick, as it were. We can't find anything wrong with her, though."

The staff worker followed Cyan back to the ship's Medbay, where they picked up Blue, and wheeled her back to HQ's Medical Center. "Miss?" the worked asked Blue. "How are you feeling?"

Blue opened her eyes to look at the worker. "Not great," she answered. "Ever since Polus... That thing that attacked me..."

The worker looked intently at Blue. "Something attacked you?" They asked.

Cyan spoke up. "She got bitten by some kind of creature on Polus," he explained. "Looked pretty big too. Tore up her arm badly. What's weird is, the medical scanners couldn't find anything wrong with her."

"I-I see," the worker replied, writing on their clipboard. "Please wait here, both of you." They then stepped over to a cabinet, opened its door and produced several things from it, including a tube connected to a vial. "Miss?" They spoke to Blue again. "I'm going to need to draw some blood. Let me see your arm, please."

Blue was a bit hesitant to do so, as she wasn't the biggest fan of sharp things or pain, but if it would help find out was was going on... She held out her arm so the worker could see it, keeping her eyes closed the whole time. She felt something being wrapped around her arm, then something cold brushed against it... And then she flinched slightly when she felt something sharp. She tried to keep her arm as still as she possibly could for several seconds, but she couldn't stop herself from shaking slightly. A few seconds later, the worker spoke to her again. "That's all I needed, Miss." When Blue opened her eyes again, the worker was bandaging up her arm. She tried not to look upward too much. She didn't exactly enjoy blood either.

"Was that all?" Cyan asked.

"That's all we can do for the time being," the worker answered. "It's going to take several hours for us to analyze this sample. You're free to take her back to your ship if you'd like."

Cyan nodded. "Alright then. Thank you. We'll be waiting for your transmission with the results." He then began to wheel Blue back to the ship. "It's alright, Blue. I'm sure you'll be alright. Let's head back, I think the others should be finished with their reports by now."

Once everyone was back on board, including Blue and Little Blue, the ship was refueled, and the crew took off once more. Orange tracked down Cyan on his way to the Medbay with Blue. "So? What'd they say?"

"Uh... They had to take a blood sample," Cyan explained. "They said it'd take a few hours to get the results."

Orange shook his head. "We'd better hope she doesn't get worse in that time," he groaned. "...Ugh. I don't know what time it is, but I feel exhausted. I'm going to go get some rest." He stepped out of the Medbay, silently hoping that Blue would be alright.

"Right," Cyan said. "It's probably best if we all get some rest, especially Blue." Before he left the Medbay, he turned down the lights, hoping Blue could sleep. "I'll leave you alone now, okay?" he said to her, before stepping out. Blue closed her eyes and tried to drift off to sleep. She felt tired too. She didn't want to do anything but sleep.

...Until suddenly, she started to feel strangely hungry...


	4. The Transformation

"What do you MEAN she's gone?!"

Around an hour had passed since Orange and Cyan had gone to sleep, and in that time, Blue had completely vanished from the Medbay. Now, Orange was confronting Cyan for her disappearance. "Well, uh... I stepped out of the room... And maaaaybe closed my eyes for just a few minutes... And when I got back she was gone."

Orange was furious. "DAMN it, Cyan, she has a kid!" he yelled. "If she dies on your watch, you're going to be in a hell of a lot of trouble with HQ! Now come on, you're helping me look!"

Cyan shook his head as Orange dashed out of the Medbay. "I don't get it," he said, mostly to himself. "She couldn't even leave her bed a few hours ago. Where did she get so much energy to get up and run around?" He then prepared to follow Orange out of the Medbay. Before he left, though, he thought he could hear something. A sort of... Scratching sound coming from the vent in the room? No, he had to be imagining it.

Green, meanwhile, was having some struggles of his own in the electrical room. He hated having to fix the wiring. Yeah, it was simple enough, but there were so many wires in these fuse boxes that it just took so long. Why couldn't today have been his turn to clean the O2 room or something? "Ugh. It's blue goes to blue, but... What do I do when there's FIVE blues?!" He continued grumbling to himself, until... He thought he heard a strange noise coming from the vent. He gave a quick look over at the vent, but he didn't see anything and the noise had stopped, so he went back to his work.

When he looked away, however, the vent slowly opened, and something- Or rather, someONE- poked out. They watched Green working at the wire box, until he turned around where he couldn't see the vent. When his back was turned, they climbed out of their hiding place, revealing who they really were: Blue, looking like a messy-haired, pajama-ed mess. Green didn't notice her at first, until he turned around. "Augh!" he suddenly screamed, nearly falling over backwards. "...Blue? What are you doing here? ...You really don't look too good at all, you know?"

Blue stared at him silently for a few seconds. Okay, that was weird. "...Hey, uh, while you're here," Green continued, giving a nervous smile. "Can you help me sort out the wires in this box? I'd do it myself, but, I tend to have trouble telling the- AAAAUGH!!"

Blue suddenly attacked Green quickly and quietly. In those few hours that had passed, her nails had become extremely sharp. When Green turned away, she took that as an opportunity to slash him across the back. Green reached around and carefully put a hand on his back, and then looked at it closely. There was more than a little blood covering his glove. He tried to speak to Blue between gasps for air. "...Blue... What's..."

At that moment, though, Blue heard footsteps and another voice at the door. "Hello? Is everything okay in here?" Before the person could see what was going on, Blue jumped back into the vent and slipped away to another part of the ship. Seconds after she had escaped, Yellow stepped into the room. She had been walking by when she heard the noises, and she had come in to investigate. Once she was inside, she was shocked to see Green bleeding on the floor. "Oh my god!" she screamed. "Green, how did this happen?!" She carefully lifted Green off the floor by his hand, propped him up on her shoulder, and ran out the door with him. "We have to get you to the Medbay now!"

Cyan and Orange, meanwhile, had just finished searching the Cafeteria for Blue, and were entering the Admin room to check there. "It's no good," Cyan sighed. "It feels like we've searched all over the ship now."

Orange, however, wasn't giving up so quickly. "It's not like she could have gotten out of the ship," he said. "We just have to keep-"

And then they heard something crunching coming down the hall. A shadowy figure could be seen moving towards the Admin room. It was hard to tell what it was, but it LOOKED like a person. Could it... Have been Blue? "...Blue...?" Cyan called out.

Well, they were sort of correct. Little Blue stepped around the corner and into the Admin room, munching on a bag of pretzels she had found. Orange sighed in relief and took the small girl's hand. "There you are," he said. "Were you looking for Blue or something?"

Little Blue nodded. As Orange was picking her up, a phone began to ring. Cyan walked over to the desk in the center of the room and pressed a few buttons on a panel. A hologram image of one of the medical staff from MIRA HQ appeared in the center of the table. "Oh, hello," Cyan greeted them. "Did you get the results back from Blue's blood sample?"

The person on the hologram spoke. "Actually, yes. That's what I'm contacting you about." They looked through their clipboard as they spoke. "It's very strange, we haven't seen anything like this before. It seems like whatever bit her was some kind of disease carrier or something similar. The test results showed... Some sort of alien parasite is in her body. You might have noticed signs already. Does she seems more aggressive than usual, maybe some physical changes?"

Cyan thought for a moment. "Her hair got a lot longer, didn't it? And her teeth seemed... Sharper than usual last time I saw her."

The person on the hologram nodded. "That sounds about right," they answered. "It seems that's what the parasite does. It manifests itself as some sort of extension of the host, but its true nature is that it only uses them to spread itself and infect others."

"Great," Orange groaned. "Blue's been turned into some kind of horrible murder monster! How long before she infects the rest of us too?"

The person on the hologram shook their head. "Please don't panic, sir," they said. "It seems the parasite does have one weakness. It can't withstand extreme high temperatures. Perhaps that's why it was hiding out in that hole on Polus."

"Polus, huh?" Orange went quiet for a minute. "...That gives me an idea. But to do that, we'll have to get Blue back to Polus, and not get bitten in the process. I wonder if-"

Orange was interrupted by the sound of a woman screaming, followed by a loud clattering sound in the Cafeteria. "Damn it!" Orange exclaimed. "Is that Blue?!" He handed Little Blue over to Cyan. "Keep an eye on her!" He then ran out of the room and down the hall toward the noise. If this was really Blue, he didn't want Little Blue getting hurt or seeing her like this.

Sure enough, Blue was standing at the back of the Cafeteria, with Lime backed up against a wall behind her. Red, Black, and Purple were carefully trying to approach her, but something seemed wrong. There were knives floating behind Blue? ...No, they weren't floating. She was holding them in her hair. She slashed at Purple with one of them, only for the other girl to duck out of the way. Black, however, wasn't so lucky, as one of the knives managed to catch him on his shoulder. Damn it! What were they supposed to do now?! She'd kill everyone if she didn't stop! Orange did the only thing he could think of- Calling out to her. "Blue! What are you doing?!"

At the sound of his voice, Blue turned around, lowering the knives slightly. Her eyes looked... Strange. Like she was still in there, and yet... Something else was in there too. Red took this time to shove Blue to the ground, while Purple escaped with Black. In the struggle, Blue managed to stab Red a few times, but he was eventually able to get the knives away from her. "Lime, get Red out of here!" Orange called out, piling on top of Blue. "Get him to Medbay, then go set up a course for Polus! We're going to-"

As Orange was speaking, Blue bit down on Orange's hand as hard as she could, in an attempt to get him to let go of her. "AUGH, DAMN IT!" Orange jumped to his feet, allowing Blue to escape to the vents once again in the process. Orange took a look at his hand. Blue's now remarkably sharp teeth were able to puncture through his glove, and he could already see spots of blood coming through. Damn it, the last thing he needed right now was to get infected too!

There was only one last thing he felt he could do now. He saw Yellow coming out of the Medbay and approached her. "Yellow, go get everyone and gather them in the Medbay," he instructed. "I'll explain why in a bit. It's the only place we'll be safe for now."


	5. The Return

Orange stepped into the Medbay, where the rest of the remaining crew was waiting, carrying several bottles of water with him. Cyan was bandaging up Red's injuries, and it looked like Green had already been taken care of. Little Blue was sitting in the corner with Purple. Yellow was trying to talk Black into getting treated. "I'll be fine for a few more minutes," Black answered. "Besides, Red needs it more than I do."

Trying to keep his hand hidden, Orange placed the water bottles on a desk, then turned and sealed the Medbay door behind him. Seeing the vent in the corner of the room, he picked up several heavy books from a shelf and placed them on top of it, making sure the grate wasn't completely covered. While he had to make sure Blue couldn't just stick her hair through the grate, the crew still needed to be able to get air. He then turned to speak to the crew. "Uh... Hey, everyone. I'm sure you're all wondering what we're doing here."

"We're hiding from Blue!" Green declared. "I asked her for help, and she suddenly just... Started attacking everyone!" He then motioned to the bandages wrapped around him. "Just look how bad I got torn up! What even happened to her? Blue seemed so nice when we met her."

"Uh... Yeah, about that," Orange began. "As it turns out... That wasn't Blue at all."

That got Green's attention. "Not Blue?" He asked. "But how is that possible? You saw her too!"

Cyan then finished tending to Red, and went to take care of Black's shoulder. "You mean that was Blue's body," he corrected. "It's kind of difficult to explain, but that thing you saw wasn't exactly Blue. It was some sort of parasite controlling her body." Huh. Now that he said it out loud, it really wasn't difficult at all.

Yellow seemed rather frightened by this. "So that's why Blue became so violent..." she said quietly, her voice shaking slightly.

White sounded like he was about to cry. "What are we going to do?" he asked. "You saw how strong she was! She's going to kill us all!"

"Hey, hey now!" Orange tried to assure White. "There's a way we can get rid of that thing and still not hurt Blue! That's why we're going back to Polus. The thing can't stand high temperatures."

"Isn't Polus a cold planet though?" Green asked, reaching for one of the water bottles Orange had brought in. "Uh, you mind if I..."

Orange handed over one of the water bottles to Green. "It's going to be a while until we get to Polus," he explained. "That's what I brought the water for. Anyway, there's that big lava pit right near the base, but we're going to have to get Blue off the ship and close to it somehow. If we can just get her near the lava, it should kill the parasite without hurting her permanently. She might not exactly like the heat... But as long as she doesn't fall in she'll be fine."

"Orange, are you sure it'll work?" Yellow asked.

"Of course it will!" Orange answered. "The doctors at MIRA HQ told us about it! Trust me, I know this plan will work. We just have to get to Polus first."

Cyan had finished patching up Black, and then walked over to Orange. "Hey, uh, you okay?" he asked. "Your hand is bleeding a lot."

"Huh?" Orange crossed his arms. "I-I'm fine, really." He made a face when his hand brushed against his arm, though.

Cyan carefully took Orange's hand. "Come on, just let me see for a second," he said. "It hurts, doesn't it?" Before Orange could protest, Cyan removed his glove- Revealing a bite mark on Orange's hand.

Lime and Yellow seemed horrified by this. "Orange!" Lime was the first to say something. "I knew I saw something happen to you earlier! That thing... It bit you too?!"

"Well, not exactly," Orange explained. "It... It was Blue. It only happened a few minutes ago."

"That means you're infected too!" Red declared. "Is it safe for you to be in here with all of us?"

Cyan then spoke up as he began bandaging Orange's hand. "Hold on a minute, Red," he replied. "The effects take several hours to show up. Orange was only bitten a few minutes ago. At most he'll be showing a few physical changes by the time we get to Polus."

Orange sighed. "For everyone's sake, Cyan, I hope you're right." All he could do was sit down and wait now. If he ended up turning before they reached Polus... It would end very badly for the rest of the crew.

The rest of the ride to Polus was rather uneventful, if a bit tense, though that may be because the crew was locked in the Medbay the whole time. They sat around talking about what they'd do to help Blue when they got there, along with various other things. Occasionally they could hear some scratching noises in the vent and at the door. They largely ignored it after the first time, though. Both Blue and the crew found that she could not open the vent or the door, no matter how much she scratched at it. Orange couldn't describe the relief he felt when the ship began to shake, indicating that it was landing once more.

Orange unlocked the door to the Medbay, and the crew headed out towards the front of the ship. "So, uh... What's the plan?" Green asked.

"We're all going to hide in the base," Orange explained. "And make sure to spread out."

"Uh, how is that going to help us?" Cyan asked.

"We're going to ambush Blue," Orange continued. "If no one's on the ship, she'll have to come out and come after us. And that's when we go after her."

"That makes sense to me!" Red declared. "Let's do it!" With that, everyone began to hide out, making sure to scatter across the base. As Orange was making his way inside, though, he managed to bite his lip. Damn it, that hurt! And now his mouth was bleeding too. ...Why were his teeth so sharp?

Blue stalked through the empty ship for several minutes. That was strange. Where had everyone gone? After wandering around a bit, she made her way towards the front of the ship, where she saw that the doors were open. Just as Orange had predicted, she decided to go outside, to find that she was back on Polus. She carefully stepped out and begin looking around. The others had to be here somewhere, right?

Orange, meanwhile, was walking toward the door to the Decontamination room. He punched the button on the door and stepped inside the room. The door closed behind him and he was hit with a shower of warm water seconds later. It probably would have felt nice if he wasn’t wearing his suit. He wasn't here to relax, though. He was going to stick close to the door and listen for Blue to come near. Hopefully the steam would make it difficult for her to see him and he could jump her.

As he was waiting for some sort of noise, however, the lights suddenly went off. Damn it, now he couldn't see anything! He fumbled to get the door open, and let the steam clear a bit before he began to step out. As he did, though, he saw someone approaching him through the steam. "...Hello?" He called out. "Who's the-" Something suddenly shot towards him through the darkness, and he quickly dodged out of the way. It looked like... Strands of dark brown hair?

As the rest of the steam cleared, Orange could see the figure more clearly. Just as he'd thought, it was Blue. The two stared at each other for several seconds, though it felt like an eternity to Orange. Blue's eyes drifted down to his bandaged hand. He couldn't tell what was going on in her head, but he knew she was distracted by it. He used this as an opportunity to charge at her, nearly knocking her to the ground. He didn't get very far, however, when Blue extended her hair to catch him. She grabbed his wrists and ankles and pushed him away from her, dropping him to the ground before jumping at him. Orange rolled away and stood up. This was going just as he planned. Maybe he could get her to chase him! He ran down the hallway, across the Specimen Room and back through the other hallway. The way he was going, he'd end up in the office. The lava pit would be right outside!

Well, it wouldn't be that easy. He was stopped by another door. Damn it! There was a second Decon room, and Blue was getting close! He slammed his hand into the button, and Blue crashed into him just as the door opened, knocking them both into the room. The two weren't able to untangle themselves until the door had already closed behind them. The water spraying from the ceiling didn't slow Blue down at all, though Orange didn't expect it to. Even when her hair was soaked, she was able to pin him to the wall, but he pushed against her and fought back. The two stayed like this for several seconds, Orange struggling to escape from Blue as she stared him straight in the face- Until the door opened behind them, and he fell backward. He was able to roll away from her once more and rush through the office. The lava pit was in sight!

Orange got as close to the lava pit as he could without falling in himself. He could feel the heat coming off of it even through his suit, and he was starting to sweat. He could see Blue coming out of the office, and she seemed to be looking for him. Now he just had to get her to come close! "Blue!" he called out, hoping to get her attention. Blue turned to face him and began to walk towards the lava pit, but she froze the second she could feel the heat coming from it. Damn it, the parasite knew, didn't it? Of course it wasn't going to willingly go near the one thing that could kill it! He'd just have to try something else, and fast. Looking around, he picked up a rather large rock from the ground. He had to hope it wouldn't be big enough to hurt Blue. Seeing that she was still frozen in place, Orange took careful aim and hurled the rock at her as hard as he could...

THUNK.

The rock hit Blue directly in the center of her head, sending her falling over backward. As she did, something seemed to fly out of her head. Something that looked like a bundle of dark brown hair. It wasn't Blue's hair, though- Actually, Orange had a feeling he knew exactly what it was. When he saw it moving, he stood up as fast as he could and picked the thing up before it could reach Blue again. Ugh, it felt gross and squirmy. He had to get rid of this thing. He made his way over to the lava pit and stood at the edge, holding the hair-parasite over his head. "Let's see you get out of this one, you creepy-" And with that, he hurled the creature into the pit. As it sunk into the lava, Orange could see a few bubbles rise to the surface, only walking away once they had stopped.

Orange walked over to where Blue was laying on the ground. "Blue?" he said to her. She didn't respond, but she still seemed to be breathing. The impact from the rock must have knocked her unconscious. Orange carefully picked her up, and began to walk back towards the office. "Come on, Blue. You're okay now. Let's go get the others and get out of here."


	6. Epilogue

Orange and Little Blue walked down the hallway to the Medbay together. Some time had passed since the crew had left Polus. His hand was feeling a lot better, but he wasn't going to the Medbay for himself. He was going there to check on the crewmates that had been injured, and to bring Little Blue back to Blue. As soon as he stepped in the door, she ran over to her mother. "Hey, guys," Orange greeted the four laying in the beds. "How's everyone feeling?"

"Well, it's better," Green was the first to talk. Yeah, it still kinda hurt when something touched his back, but he wasn't bleeding anymore. That was an improvement, as far as he saw it.

Red gave Orange a wide smile. "I'm doing just fine!" he answered. Though he seemed to be doing well, he wasn't nearly as energetic has he had been before. Orange couldn't tell if it was from blood loss or if he was still hurting, but he hoped that second option was the case.

Black shook his head. "I told you guys I'd be fine," he said. He did seem to be the least injured of the four, though he did manage to just get away with being slashed on the shoulder.

Finally, Orange made his way over to Blue. She was awake now, with Little Blue standing next to her, and her head was now bandaged. She didn't look so pale anymore, and her hair seemed to be it's usual length and color. "Hey, Blue. How you feeling?"

Blue looked up and smiled at him. "It's weird," she answered. "I suddenly feel a lit better than before. Aah... My head feels a little fuzzy though... I had this weird dream after I got sick..."

Orange's eyes widened. "Dream?" he asked.

"Everything is kind of a blur," Blue began. "I remember climbing through the vents and... You guys were all attacking me for some reason... I don't really remember much of what happened at all."

Orange's eyes darted around the room. He looked at the rest of the group. They all seemed to be in agreement. It was probably best to let Blue believe this was all some sort of dream brought on by her sudden illness. Green then spoke up again. "Oh yeah, Orange! That thing bit you too! But... You don't look all weird like Blue did right now."

Green was right. Orange wasn't feeling murder-y like Blue did earlier, his hair hadn't grown longer, and... He carefully tried to bite his lip. His teeth weren't all sharp anymore! He ran over to the medical scanner and looked at his reflection in the screen, particularly at his teeth. They looked normal! "You're right," he said, turning back to Green. "I was near the lava pit too. The heat from the lava must have killed the parasite before anything weird happened!"

Blue seemed concerned. "Parasite?" she asked. "Orange, that thing bit you too? Are you okay? Let me see."

Orange went over and showed his bandaged hand to Blue. "Yeah, uh, that's why you got sick," Orange explained. "That thing that bit you... It was carrying some kind of parasite. It's okay though! We're both cured now, and that thing is long gone... I don't think it'll be bothering us ever again."

Blue was relieved to hear this. "That's good," she answered. "I've worked with a lot of teams in the past, but you guys... I've never been able to get along with a group better than you before."

Black then spoke up. "And look how quickly we get our work done every day," he added. "Things run so smoothly around here because we all work so well together."

Orange nodded. "To be honest... I hope we all get to keep working together for a long time."

"Let's all become the best crew ever!" Red exclaimed.

Orange felt happy. It was good to see everyone being so optimistic despite what happened. "Alright, I'm going to let you all rest now," he said to the group. "Once you're all back on your feet, we can start up work again."

Black tried to stand up. "I can go with you," he said. "Really, it's just my shoulder. I'll be okay."

Orange scolded him. "Nope. You stay right here," he said firmly. "Don't let me catch you out of your bed." He wasn't sure he was actually going to punish Black for this, but he had to make sure things didn't get worse than they already were. With one final wave to Little Blue, he stepped out of the Medbay and headed to the front of the ship. He wasn't sure where their next trip would take them, but as long as they did it together, he'd be happy.


End file.
